Mazzaglia seeks to suppress portions of police interrogation

DOVER — Seth Mazzaglia will seek to suppress some of the statements he made in an 11-hour interrogation by police investigating the death of University of New Hampshire student Elizabeth "Lizzi" Marriott.

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By Joey Cresta

seacoastonline.com

By Joey Cresta

Posted Jan. 9, 2014 at 2:00 AM

By Joey Cresta
Posted Jan. 9, 2014 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

DOVER — Seth Mazzaglia will seek to suppress some of the statements he made in an 11-hour interrogation by police investigating the death of University of New Hampshire student Elizabeth "Lizzi" Marriott.

Mazzaglia, 31, of Dover, remains incarcerated on alternate-theory counts of murder, along with multiple other charges in connection with the October 2012 disappearance of the 19-year-old college student. He will be taken from the county jail to Strafford Superior Court for three straight days starting Feb. 11 for a suppression hearing.

The hearing is the result of a motion to suppress filed Dec. 9 by public defender Melissa Davis, who is part of Mazzaglia's defense team. Prosecutors filed an objection to that motion on Dec. 24.

Details on the argument for suppressing the evidence are limited, as both the original motion and objection remain under wraps with Judge Kenneth Brown, who will preside over the hearing.

An official in the court clerk's office said the motion to suppress may contain sensitive information that would require it to be sealed from public viewing. A request may similarly be made to hold the suppression hearing in private, the official said.

Court documents indicate the state has submitted under seal audio and video recordings of Mazzaglia's discussions with police that occurred on Oct. 12-13, 2012. The prosecution will seek to have those recordings admitted as evidence for the upcoming trial.

According to court documents previously released to the media, Mazzaglia initially tried to implicate others in Marriott's death and later changed his story to claim Marriott accidentally died during a "consensual sexual encounter" involving erotic asphyxiation.

One of the murder charges against Mazzaglia alleges the encounter was not consensual, but that he strangled Marriott to death with rope before, after or while committing or attempting to commit sexual assault.

A well-known local actor and karate instructor, Mazzaglia was known in some online circles as "DarkKaiser," including on some bondage fetish Web sites.

He most recently was indicted in November on new charges alleging he planned an "armed and violent breakout" from jail.

His former girlfriend, Kathryn "Kat" McDonough, 20, of Portsmouth, pleaded guilty last year to her role in the alleged conspiracy to cover up Marriott's killing. She was sentenced to 1½ to three years in prison in exchange for cooperating with investigators.